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Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
74 Lawsuits Have Been Filed to Stop Trump, Most in a Handful of Courts
(Bloomberg) -- Lawsuits against the Trump administration have put four US courts with a majority of Democrat-appointed judges at the center of fights over the onslaught of executive actions roiling the US government. Progressive Portland Plots a Comeback Why American Mobility Ground to a Halt SpaceX Bid to Turn Texas Starbase Into City Is Set for Vote in May How to Build a Neurodiverse City Saudi Arabia's Neom Signs $5 Billion Deal for AI Data Center In the first four weeks of the new administration, at least 74 lawsuits were filed, and of those, 58 were brought in federal district courts in Washington, Boston, Seattle and suburban Maryland, according to a Bloomberg News analysis. Each of those districts has a majority of active judges nominated by Democratic presidents and each feeds into appeals courts with a similar ideological balance. The cases have challenged President Donald Trump's hard-line immigration policies, efforts to slash the size and reach of federal agencies and roll back civil rights protections and diversity programs. Others have focused on Tesla Inc. and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency and its constitutionality and access to agency computer systems. 'Advocates will want to go to places that they perceive to be more sympathetic,' said Nancy Gertner, a Harvard Law School senior lecturer and retired Boston federal judge who was nominated by former President Bill Clinton. With courts as key players in political fights, the strategy behind where challengers file takes on new significance — and scrutiny. But the cases against Trump and his appointees are more spread out across districts and circuits compared to the flurry of cases brought by conservatives against Joe Biden's administration, according to legal scholars tracking such actions. Trump's opponents also haven't turned to single-judge divisions, a move that can ensure predictability in who hears a case. 17 Judges So far, at least 17 judges — including several appointed by Republicans — have orders in place blocking or temporarily halting actions by Trump's administration. Those include initiatives to restrict birthright citizenship, suspend or cut off domestic and foreign US spending, shrink the federal workforce, oust independent agency heads and roll back legal protections and medical care for transgender adults and youths. In other cases, the administration has agreed to a pause to give judges time to rule, another way that legal fights are forcing a slowdown. Advocacy groups and Democratic attorneys general have declined to talk publicly about their strategy when it comes to where they're suing the Trump administration. Skye Perryman, chief executive of Democracy Forward, which has filed multiple lawsuits, pointed to the range of rulings to date from judges in different courts and circuits. 'So many of the actions are outside the bounds of even reasonable disagreement on the rule of law,' Perryman said. Spokespeople for the White House and the US Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment. Half in Washington Of the 74 cases filed as of Friday, more than half are in the nation's capital. Litigants have to show a reason for filing in a particular court and Washington has long been the primary forum for lawsuits against federal agencies and White House policies. In some instances, US law requires cases against the government to be filed there. But coalitions of Democratic attorneys general also have been splitting up cases across their home states. Advocacy groups and federal worker unions have been filing where they're based or where they have clients and members. Cases in Washington get appealed to the DC Circuit, while those in Boston, Maryland and Seattle go to the 1st, 4th and 9th Circuits, respectively. Republican state officials and conservative groups routinely brought lawsuits against the Biden administration in districts in the conservative-leaning 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. During Trump's first term, the DC, 4th and 9th Circuits handed him a number of high-profile losses, especially on immigration issues. The 1st Circuit didn't play as prominent a role. Gertner said it historically had a reputation as a moderate bench. The circuit's six active judgeships are filled with five Democrat appointees and one vacancy for Trump to potentially fill. Musk Attacks Trump's allies have lashed out at judges in response, including attacks by Trump's billionaire ally Musk and Vice President JD Vance. During Trump's first term, his criticism of judges who ruled against him drew a rare public rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts, who defended the judiciary's independence. Federal judges push back on the idea that the party of the president who appointed them is a predictor, let alone a factor, in how they'll rule. They point to their lifetime tenure, conflict of interest laws and ethics rules as bulwarks against politically-motivated decision-making, though the latter is only binding on lower courts, not the US Supreme Court. Still, Katherine Macfarlane, a professor at Syracuse University College of Law and an expert in federal court civil procedure, said that in politically charged cases, at least some amount of 'macro' strategy around where to file has become standard. Political protections like life tenure haven't 'been enough to give parties confidence that it doesn't matter who you're in front of,' she said. At the district court level, complaints about the tactic known as 'judge shopping' escalated during the Biden administration, when conservatives brought a noticeable proportion of cases in Texas divisions where only one or two judges were sitting. 'Forum Shopping' Steve Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center who has researched judge shopping and was critical of the practice during the Biden years, said that hasn't been a hallmark of Trump challengers so far. 'Is there forum-shopping? Sure. Is it anything close to what was happening over the past four years? No,' Vladeck said. Earlier this week, the chief judge of the Massachusetts federal court released a new policy that lawsuits filed in the district's single-judge divisions in Springfield and Worcester seeking nationwide relief against US government policies would be randomly assigned across the entirety of the bench. To date, though, challenges to the Trump administration have been filed in Boston. Gertner, a senior lecturer at Harvard Law School, said the wave of pushback from judges pausing or blocking the Trump administration's actions was a sign that the location of these fights might not prove a significant factor in the outcomes. She cited the example of the four judges — two appointed by Republicans and two by Democrats — who have ruled against Trump's birthright citizenship limits. 'The distance between what Trump is doing and what the law requires and what the Constitution requires is so substantial that it doesn't matter what the judge is,' she said. --With assistance from Christopher Cannon. The Undocumented Workers Who Helped Build Elon Musk's Texas Gigafactory The Unicorn Boom Is Over, and Startups Are Getting Desperate The NBA Has Fallen Into an Efficiency Trap Japan Perfected 7-Eleven. Why Can't the US Get It Right? How Silicon Valley Swung From Obama to Trump ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
South Korea's Mint Halts Gold Bar Sales as Supply Tightens
(Bloomberg) -- South Korea's mint has temporarily suspended sales of gold bars, adding to signs of widespread tightness across markets for physical precious metals. Saudi Arabia's Neom Signs $5 Billion Deal for AI Data Center Nice Airport, If You Can Get to It: No Subway, No Highway, No Bridge The Forgotten French Architect Who Rebuilt Marseille Sin puente y sin metro: el nuevo aeropuerto de Lima es una debacle In New Orleans, an Aging Dome Tries to Stay Super The Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp. said it's facing problems with sourcing supply and managing demand, and that it will try and resume sales as soon as possible, according to a notice on its website. The move comes as traders worldwide rush to deliver bullion to the US ahead of potential tariffs on the metal. Prices for gold on New York's Comex have surged above international benchmarks, resulting in unprecedented tightness and record outflows from London vaults. The precious metal has made fresh highs in 2025, as growing trepidation surrounding US President Donald Trump's disruptive tariff announcements drives demand for haven assets. Investors are trying to get a read on the potential implications for the global economy, reinforcing bullion's role as a store of value in uncertain times. Listen: What's Behind Gold's Record Rally? (Big Take Asia Podcast) --With assistance from Shinhye Kang and Seyoon Kim. Why Fast Food Could Be MAHA's Next Target Trump's Tariffs Make Currency Trading Cool Again After Years of Decline The Game Changer: How Ely Callaway Remade Golf Trump Promised to Run the Economy Hotter. His Shock and Awe May Have a Chilling Effect Orange Juice Makers Are Desperate for a Comeback ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's Era of Climate Retreat Is Already on Show in New Zealand
(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand may already be giving the world a glimpse of what global climate policy will look like in the Trump era. Saudi Arabia's Neom Signs $5 Billion Deal for AI Data Center Why American Mobility Ground to a Halt Cutting Arena Subsidies Can Help Cover Tax Cuts, Think Tank Says The Forgotten French Architect Who Rebuilt Marseille The South Pacific nation, one of the first advanced economies to set a legally-binding net zero target, has ushered in a series of green reversals since Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's center-right coalition took office in late 2023, rolling back curbs on fossil fuels, loosening emissions regulations for the giant agriculture sector, and criticizing banks over their restrictions on lending. A more cautious climate approach from Luxon's government — elected on a platform to revive a flagging economy — contrasts with splashy green announcements from predecessors including ex-Labour Party Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. It's also an example of the direction other nations could follow as the US leads a retreat from climate action, and as companies to electorates push back against the costs of hitting net zero targets. Luxon's coalition partner David Seymour, due to take on the role of deputy prime minister later this year, has even raised the prospect of following the US in quitting the Paris Agreement on emissions reduction, indicating his ACT Party could campaign on the issue at the country's next national election. 'New Zealand leaders appear to be favoring immediate economic gain,' over climate action, said Alice Hill, a senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations. 'That political expediency comes at a high price as climate change extremes cause ever greater damage.' Concerns are mounting among climate advocates that governments globally are faltering on their commitments to lower greenhouse gas emissions, and only a handful of nations met a Feb. 10 deadline to lodge more ambitious national targets with the United Nations under the Paris Agreement. In Switzerland this month, voters rejected a set of rigid emissions limits proposed by a youth wing of the nation's Green Party, with polls showing citizens remain worried about the impact on jobs and growth. Luxon insists that New Zealand can meet a 2050 goal to zero out its emissions, though 2035 targets submitted to the UN — which pledge to cut pollution between 51% and 55% below 2005 levels — have been criticized as lacking in ambition. Other key recent changes have exempted the country's agricultural sector, which accounts for almost half of the nation's emissions, from paying carbon taxes until 2030, while a 2018 ban on offshore oil and gas exploration introduced by Ardern has been overturned. New rules imposed on the country's carbon market aim to slow the rate at which farmland has been converted into forests used to generate credits. Farmers had complained a surge in projects was forcing some off their land. Lenders and insurers have become a specific target of government criticism over policies that limit business with fossil fuels producers, and even gasoline outlets. Banking executives 'are the new corporate gatekeepers, imposing moral priorities under the cover of saving the planet,' Resources Minister Shane Jones said last month. 'Not only are they inflicting their luxury beliefs on our farming industry, but they are actively de-banking mineral firms.' Federated Farmers, a group which advocates for rural communities and agriculturalists, complained to regulators last year that New Zealand financial institutions that were members of the UN's Net-Zero Banking Alliance were anti-competitive and imposing targets for reducing emissions on some borrowers. 'Banks exist to lend, not to lecture,' the group's spokesperson Richard McIntyre said. 'It's up to elected governments to determine which businesses are lawful, not a handful of banking executives imposing their own moral compass.' Aside from government policies, climate action in New Zealand has been stymied by issues from lower rainfall last winter that curbed hydroelectric generation and boosted coal consumption, to insufficient supplies of sustainable aviation fuel. Air New Zealand Ltd., in which the government has a 51% stake, in July scrapped its 2030 climate target, citing a lack of affordable cleaner fuels and delays in acquiring more efficient aircraft. 'The roll back in New Zealand's commitment is concerning and will be of concern to our trade partners and Pacific neighbours,' said Bronwyn Hayward, a political science professor at the University of Canterbury. Others disagree that New Zealand is retreating from climate leadership, arguing that Luxon has focused on realistic policies with more chance of delivering success, or that the prior government had achieved little. 'We were barely reducing emissions at all under the previous Ardern government,' said Finn Ross, founder of Climate Action Company, a broker for carbon and biodiversity credits. Luxon's administration is 'not rolling back any key environmental rules, more simplifying the process and cutting down the opportunity for submissions and litigation," said Adrian Macey, an adjunct professor at the New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute at Te Herenga Waka— Victoria University of Wellington. And even the current government's climate ambitions are too onerous for some. New emissions cutting targets are unachievable and virtue signaling, according to Bryce McKenzie, co-founder of Groundswell NZ, a rural campaign group. 'Trump is a breath of fresh air and has finally seen through all this rubbish,' he said. Luxon has ruled out any exit from the Paris Agreement, insisting that to do so could damage the country's global standing and exports. 'Withdrawing and ripping up international agreements means you're not a trusted partner,' he told NewstalkZB radio last week. New Zealand is also planning to introduce new legislation this year which aims to accelerate work by communities and businesses to prepare for the impacts of climate change. Major floods and Cyclone Gabrielle in early 2023 caused about NZ$14.5 billion ($8 billion) of damage, while around 750,000 citizens and 500,000 buildings are near rivers or coastal areas exposed to extreme flooding, according to the report of a parliamentary inquiry published last year. 'We are prioritizing action on climate adaptation to ensure our businesses, households and economy are more resilient,' Climate Change Minister Simon Watts said last month. --With assistance from Ishika Mookerjee. The Game Changer: How Ely Callaway Remade Golf Why Fast Food Could Be MAHA's Next Target Elon Musk's DOGE Is a Force Americans Can't Afford to Ignore How Oura's Smart Ring Bridged the Gap From Tech Bros to Normies Trump's Tariffs Make Currency Trading Cool Again After Years of Decline ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Greek Lawmakers Elect Country's New President in Fourth Attempt
(Bloomberg) -- Greek lawmakers elected the country's new president in a fourth round of voting. Saudi Arabia's Neom Signs $5 Billion Deal for AI Data Center Nice Airport, If You Can Get to It: No Subway, No Highway, No Bridge The Forgotten French Architect Who Rebuilt Marseille Sin puente y sin metro: el nuevo aeropuerto de Lima es una debacle In New Orleans, an Aging Dome Tries to Stay Super Constantine Tassoulas, a close ally of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his pick for the role, secured 160 votes and was elected in Wednesday's vote, when he only needed a simple majority of 151 lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament. In the previous three rounds he also received 160 votes mostly from Mitsotakis's center-right New Democracy party, which has 156 members of parliament, but failed to get elected as the threshold was higher. Tassoulas will replace Katerina Sakellaropoulou, the first Greek woman to serve in the role. He was first elected as a New Democracy lawmaker in 2000 and has since served as deputy defense minister and minister of culture and sports. He was elected as speaker in 2019 and reelected to the post twice in 2023 until he resigned when Mitsotakis named him as his candidate to be president of the Hellenic Republic. Opposition parties had made clear that they wouldn't support Tassoulas's candidacy, accusing Mitsotakis of picking someone who's an active member of his party's parliamentary group. In Greece, the role of president is largely symbolic but he can appoint and dismiss the prime minister, other ministers and deputy ministers. He also represents the state internationally and is the titular head of the armed forces. The president serves a five-year term that can be renewed once. Why Fast Food Could Be MAHA's Next Target Trump's Tariffs Make Currency Trading Cool Again After Years of Decline The Game Changer: How Ely Callaway Remade Golf Trump Promised to Run the Economy Hotter. His Shock and Awe May Have a Chilling Effect Orange Juice Makers Are Desperate for a Comeback ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Putin Sticks With Goal to Roll Back NATO, Estonian Report Says
(Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn't abandoned his broader goal of redrawing the balance of power in Europe three years after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Estonia's foreign intelligence service warned in a yearly report. Saudi Arabia's Neom Signs $5 Billion Deal for AI Data Center Nice Airport, If You Can Get to It: No Subway, No Highway, No Bridge The Forgotten French Architect Who Rebuilt Marseille Sin puente y sin metro: el nuevo aeropuerto de Lima es una debacle In New Orleans, an Aging Dome Tries to Stay Super A temporary ceasefire in Ukraine risks giving Putin a chance to 'catch his breath' before resuming his war on Ukraine in pursuit of that goal, said the report, published Wednesday. His pre-invasion demand that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization roll back from eastern Europe still stands, it added. The Baltic nation on NATO's eastern flank is a staunch supporter of Ukraine. Estonia, which borders Russia, has blamed Moscow's intelligence services for a spate of acts of vandalism in recent years and ramped up defense spending. 'Putin likely views a resolution to this conflict as achievable only through a Yalta style agreement – that is, dividing Europe into spheres of influence,' the report said, referencing the meeting between US, UK and Soviet leaders to reorganize Europe's borders and security architecture after World War II. In order to discourage military support to Ukraine, Russia will stoke 'fears of a nuclear winter' in Western societies this year, the intelligence agency said. It added that Moscow is 'highly unlikely to use nuclear weapons' against Ukraine, but 'observing how the fear factor has restrained the West thus far,' will exploit it to the fullest. The spy agency also warned that despite enormous troop losses and heavy Western sanctions, Russia's military forces continue to grow, gaining experience on the battlefield and with new technologies. While the country's economy has withstood external pressures, its momentum has slowed, impacting Moscow's ambitious plans to ramp up military production, the report said. The report dedicated a chapter to China, which it said 'tacitly endorses' its citizens and companies doing business with Moscow. China has aided Russian drone production by facilitating the flow of Western components, according to the spy agency. 'China's interest lies in preventing Russia from losing the war in Ukraine, as such an outcome would represent a victory for its main rival, the United States,' the report said. Why Fast Food Could Be MAHA's Next Target Trump's Tariffs Make Currency Trading Cool Again After Years of Decline The Game Changer: How Ely Callaway Remade Golf Trump Promised to Run the Economy Hotter. His Shock and Awe May Have a Chilling Effect Orange Juice Makers Are Desperate for a Comeback ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
